Hypnagogic imagery (I think) with my eyes open

Hi.
I apologize if this is the wrong place for this thread, but I didn't really see anywhere else that it would fit in any better.
Anyhow, I just wanted to ask about hypnagogic imagery, and if it is possible to "see" these images with your eyes open. Recently, I've discovered that if I stare at one spot for more than a few seconds that I get this weird tunnel vision type sensation, accompanied by all sorts of multicolored imagery. It starts out mostly in the area of my peripheral vision, but it soon encompasses my entire field of view. Also, when it first "kicks in" the ambient light suddenly takes on a completely different, almost amber hue, like someone has flipped a switch to darken the room just a bit (happens outside in the sun also.)
Once I move my eyes, and stop staring at the same spot, most of the imagery fades, but there is this lingering "field" for lack of a better word that covers everything I look at. It's multicolored, mostly transparent, and looks a bit like the noise you would see on a television screen when there's not a channel tuned in. This "field" can stay in view for hours sometimes. It doesn't really block my view or anything, but it can be a little distracting in that it makes people, and other objects look a bit like they are glowing in the dark, even though it's not dark.
I know all this sounds a little bit crazy, and maybe I just need to get my eyes checked. But you guys showed up in a Google search, and I've never posted to a forum such as this one, so I thought I would give it a try. Hopefully someone can shed some light on this.

Thanks in advance.

Not sure what would cause you to see that.

The hallucinations we see when WILDing - initiating a lucid dream, happen when we are falling asleep. Those are beginning of a dream forming.

I'm sorry, I can't help you better. I hope someone else may know something about this. Happy dreams:alien:

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Originally Posted by gab

Not sure what would cause you to see that.

The hallucinations we see when WILDing - initiating a lucid dream, happen when we are falling asleep. Those are beginning of a dream forming.

I'm sorry, I can't help you better. I hope someone else may know something about this. Happy dreams:alien:

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After reading up on it today, that's pretty much how I learned the term 'hypnagogic'. I know that term is meant to describe the images that some people see as they fall asleep, but when I googled my "symptoms", I kept getting hits for sites that were talking about the hypnagogic state. Now, unless I have some undiagnosed narcolepsy or something, I'm pretty sure I'm not falling asleep when I'm seeing these things, but I guess anything is possible. I really don't know how else to describe it, other than to say it's just weird. Most of the images look sort of like holograms or something, but occasionally I'll get a brief moment where I can clearly see something that looks real. Usually it's either a large tree, or a structure that kind of resembles a Roman aqueduct. These Images usually pass on by sort of like a slide show on a computer, but they sure do stick in my head like a bad memory or something.

In any case, I'm going to ask around on a couple of other sites I found today, and see if anyone there has ever heard of this.

Thanks again.

This sounds familiar to me. The graininess/multicolored noise, glowing things (especially people and trees for me), color shifts, distortions in peripheral vision. Occasionally it's gotten so intense as to cause a shift in my depth perception and make me feel like I'm closer to being in a dream state.

Read over the sections on diffuse vision in Sivason's Dream Yoga class, I think it's in the Basic Skills 2 post. Perhaps this is what you are doing?

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Originally Posted by amiana

This sounds familiar to me. The graininess/multicolored noise, glowing things (especially people and trees for me), color shifts, distortions in peripheral vision. Occasionally it's gotten so intense as to cause a shift in my depth perception and make me feel like I'm closer to being in a dream state.

Read over the sections on diffuse vision in Sivason's Dream Yoga class, I think it's in the Basic Skills 2 post. Perhaps this is what you are doing?

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Thank you very much. I'll definitely check that out. Good to know that I'm not going crazy. Or if I am, at least I'm not alone. :-)

One more thing.
I should probably also mention that I see the HI, as most of you seem to call it, every single night as I lie in bed. Every night. Without fail. Only, I didn't realize what it was, and that it could be more than just random images produced by the subconscious. (Although it seems like the majority of what I see are people, places and things that I've never seen before.) And a lot of what I see at night could be better described as short movie clips rather than still images. And occasionally, the images can be "interactive", for lack of a better word. For example, a couple of nights ago, I watched a middle aged gentleman working in some sort of wood shop. He was standing in front of a work table, facing toward me, but was looking down at his work. I watched him for several seconds before he suddenly jerked his head up, stared right at me and yelled something to me in a language that I didn't recognize. I still don't know what he said to me, but I could tell by the way he was looking at me that he wasn't happy that I was there watching him.
Again, I know all this stuff sounds like the ramblings of a crazy person. But the only person that I have ever told about any of this stuff is convinced that these occurrences are spiritual in nature. I guess I would just like to know if anyone else experiences this sort of thing, and what I should do about it.

Thanks.

**Edited for spelling**

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Originally Posted by AmpLogic

I should probably also mention that I see the HI, as most of you seem to call it, every single night as I lie in bed. Every night. Without fail. Only, I didn't realize what it was, and that it could be more than just random images produced by the subconscious. (Although it seems like the majority of what I see are people, places and things that I've never seen before.) And a lot of what I see at night could be better described as short movie clips rather than still images. And occasionally, the images can be "interactive", for lack of a better word. For example, a couple of nights ago, I watched a middle aged gentleman working in some sort of wood shop. He was standing in front of a work table, facing toward me, but was looking down at his work. I watched him for several seconds before he suddenly jerked his head up, stared right at me and yelled something to me in a language that I didn't recognize. I still don't know what he said to me, but I could tell by the way he was looking at me that he wasn't happy that I was there watching him.
Again, I know all this stuff sounds like the ramblings of a crazy person. But the only person that I have ever told about any of this stuff is convinced that these occurrences are spiritual in nature. I guess I would just like to know if anyone else experiences this sort of thing, and what I should do about it.

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Yes, those are the HH or HI. It's possible to get them as soon as you go to bed. Sometimes I get them as soon as I close my eyes, when I'm falling asleep watching TV. But we normally get them when we are very close to REM, or perhaps in REM already.

I think those are the beginnings of a dream. I usually start out with seeing single random items, such as an alarm clock, a wasp... Later, I can get animated images and scenes, such as a stick figure walking out on a stage, performing and walking off, or a magazine with pages being flipped. Yet later again, I can see movies. That's when I know a dream is ready for me and I can enter it by "wishing/seeing myself in some spot in that dream scene". Have you ever tried entering these images?

The are incredibly realistic, and I'm not surprised that you think this can be some sort of spiritual events. I would like to think that it's possible. Maybe some sort of "remote viewing", or you actually being there in some form or another. But it's also possible, that this HH acted as you expected it to act. The man you observed - perhaps you thought to yourself, if he is going to spot you, and to that he looked at you.

Some people learned to control these HH.

Good luck and keep us posted. :alien:

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That's when I know a dream is ready for me and I can enter it by "wishing/seeing myself in some spot in that dream scene". Have you ever tried entering these images?

The are incredibly realistic, and I'm not surprised that you think this can be some sort of spiritual events. I would like to think that it's possible. Maybe some sort of "remote viewing", or you actually being there in some form or another.

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I actually have tried to enter the scenes, and have even been successful a couple of times. But it's almost like I have to drag myself into them with my mind, and it's kind of hard. Does that makes sense?
The other night I was actually able to follow a farmer or ranch hand or someone similar, up a ladder into a barn loft. But, similar to the guy in the wood shop, the farmer seemed to figure out that I was there, and he climbed out a window, and onto the roof of the barn. The whole scene got really blurry after that, and although I could still see a little, it took a lot of effort. The whole thing literally made me physically tired. I like your method of visualizing yourself into the scene much better. Does that always work?
Someone else mentioned the remote viewing thing, but I haven't really checked into it to see exactly what it is and how it works.
Thanks for the tips and ideas.

The field in your vision you are reffering to is called visual snow.It affects a lot of people including myself for no apparent reason. Also, i believe that the colored imagery you see are phosphenes rather than HH. Whenever i go to bed in a dark room, even with my eyes opened, i start seeing blue waves or fractals that progressively grow to encompass all my field of vision. The more i focus on a single point in my vision, the more distinct they get. Even though this phenomena is not HH, by paying attention to it for long periods of time i believe that eventually HH could start to form out of it. Sometimes, when i focus on it, i get random vivid flashes of objects or things which i can only describe as being HH. Also, i don't believe you need to get your eyes checked by a doctor because i went to lots of them, including an ophthalmologist, and they never found anything wrong with my eyes. I hope this will answer to some of your questions :p

Welcome, Mutant, you could be one of Us. What you perceive could be a type of ESP. The scene of the man? You may have been remote viewing, and maybe he saw you, and thought you were a ghost.
I suggest trying to control your visions to make them stronger, brighter, more vivid. Try to light up your vision to see better at night. Try to see what you want to see.